. To California and back;. tals of Red Rock. Canon,whose commonplace title covers a long stretch ofthe most exquisite scenery ever encountered in anarrow mountain-notch. The white flash of thestream, interrupted here and there by still pools thatreflect the blue of the sky, marks an intricately wind-ing upward path, disclosing at every turn new love-liness of woodland bowers, above which glimmerthrough evergreen-trees, or flush broadly with un-obscured faces, the brilliant masses of the rock for-mation. HAGERMAN PASS. Red granite cliffs follow, and scenes of wideninggrandeur. Although for many
. To California and back;. tals of Red Rock. Canon,whose commonplace title covers a long stretch ofthe most exquisite scenery ever encountered in anarrow mountain-notch. The white flash of thestream, interrupted here and there by still pools thatreflect the blue of the sky, marks an intricately wind-ing upward path, disclosing at every turn new love-liness of woodland bowers, above which glimmerthrough evergreen-trees, or flush broadly with un-obscured faces, the brilliant masses of the rock for-mation. HAGERMAN PASS. Red granite cliffs follow, and scenes of wideninggrandeur. Although for many miles the grade hasbeen steadily upward, the real ascent of the Hager-man Pass now begins. This crossing of the Con-tinental Divide is the loftiest railroad-pass in Amer-ica. The Frying Pan shows the way nearly to thesummit, until its headwaters are reached at LochIvanhoe, i i,ooo feet above the sea. There is a far-ther climb of 500 feet, then the train enters a longtunnel, and the Pacific Slope is past. When the 129 yj.,. traveler next sees the light of day a long descent ofthe backbone* of the Divide lies before him, to beaccomplished by means of loops, trestles and otherscientific solutions of prodigious difficulties. Numer-ous snow-sheds of heavy timbers cover points ex-posed to the avalanche or the drift of snows, and inthe winter season rotary snow-plows and a largeforce of laborers are kept constantly on hand to pre-vent any delay to travel. In this unique descent of a seemingly impassablebarrier the grandest of mountain-views are inevitablyafforded. The wide detours necessitated by gradeand topography face in turn every point of the com-pass, overhung by receding summits and looking offthrough profound notches or along the vertiginousdownward-sweeping slopes to a world below. Alpinetravelers pay the price of extreme fatigue and imperiltheir lives for the sensations of such an experience,which for the American tourist is only an incident,comfortably enjoyed without exer
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Keywords: ., boo, bookauthorhigginscacharlesa, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890
